Bacon's Rebellion

Reconcile This

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The executive director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission was asked to resign yesterday amidst charges that not enough of the money appropriated to the Commission was being spent on indigent defense. Meredith Bonny of the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the complete story here, including this:

Betsy Wells Edwards is director of the Virginia Indigent Defense Coalition, a nonprofit group aimed at improving and reforming the indigent-defense system. She said pay and a lack of resources for public defenders offices and court-appointed attorneys in Virginia are long-standing issues.

“It’s embarrassing,” she said, explaining that in Virginia, court-appointed attorneys are paid $112 per misdemeanor charge. “You can’t even keep the lights on for that.”

Others agreed.

“We still have a long way to go in terms of providing good quality representation,” said Steve Benjamin, a defense attorney and member of the commission.

Meanwhile, Jerry Kilgore is criticized for suggesting that he would work with various groups to find a way to increase funding to indigent defense attorneys.

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  1. Becky Dale Avatar
    Becky Dale

    Virginia is the loser here. Richard has long been fighting for more funding for indigent defense and the General Assembly has shrugged its shoulders. I don’t know of a public servant who is more dedicated than Richard. He has gumption too, that I personally saw demonstrated at a House subcommittee meeting once. He stood up and questioned a back room deal with the sheriffs’ association that no one else in the room dared challenge. He didn’t shrug his shoulders like everyone else did. He fought the fight.

  2. Becky Dale Avatar
    Becky Dale

    This was several years ago, and on second thought, I think it was a deal with the commonwealth attorneys’ association instead of the sheriffs’ association. The deal was made to smooth the passage of the bill. VA Supreme Court had ruled that constitutional officers weren’t public bodies. FOIA Council recommended language to make clear that they were public bodies as far as their records were concerned. Of course, it would have suited the constitutional officers not to have to come under FOIA so they weren’t anxious for a fix to the court’s decision. The particular point Goemann challenged was about a provision that would have eventually opened up closed cases to the public. That provision was removed from the version a FOIA workgroup debated and that FOIA Council approved. The new version was presented to the House subcommittee at their 7 a.m. meeting and they passed it quickly without comment. The public got its first view of the amendments at that meeting. The room, despite the time of day, was filled. All the usual FOIA lobbyists were there. But Goemann was the only person to say “Wait a minute. What happened to…” As I recall, no one on the subcommittee said a word in response; they just moved on to other business. So much for public debate of an important policy matter.

  3. subpatre Avatar
    subpatre

    Except for ‘too little money spent on indigent defense’, there’s little information about what’s been going on in the Commission.

    On Goermann’s side, $32M among 1200 attorneys is $26,000; not much for essentially full-time jobs. In the Commission’s BOD, all of them including Stolle, seem genuinely committed to the Commission’s task. The entire project’s on the wrong track.

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…“
    Nobody, especially in 1776, thought that ‘created equal’ meant physically, mentally or medically equal; the equality is before the law.

    “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted…“
    It’s an injust society that takes its peoples’ money to pay for others’ medical treatment, yet abandons them in cases of law.

    We have the means to save $32M and get free, coomprehensive and competent indigent defense: As a condition of license, practicing Virginia attorneys must represent indigent clients.

    That $32M may be small potatoes, but would be appreciated by veterans and the needy seeking medical care. Before another dime’s spent on Medicaid or VA, make law practitioners practice true “equality before the law”.

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